


After 10,000 Years

by ElfGrove



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Royal Guard Shiro, Altean Shiro (Voltron), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Quasi-Immortality, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, altean au, blade of marmora, hint of Shiro/Ulaz with more to come later, survived the hard way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2018-10-05 04:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10297577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElfGrove/pseuds/ElfGrove
Summary: (Season 2 Spoilers) Alternate Universe -- 10,000 years ago, Takashi Shirogane was a member of the Altean Royal Guard. Zarkon rose to power. Altea fell. He survived. And kept surviving. Then something changed.(I blame that Voltron group DM for everything.)





	1. A Signal

**Author's Note:**

> This is being done in snippets. Slowly. Bear with me.
> 
> Altean Time Slices Reference:  
> Tick(s) — Second(s)  
> Dobosh(es) — Minute(s)  
> Varga(s) — Hour(s)  
> Quintant(s) — Day(s)  
> Spicolian Movement(s) — Week(s)  
> Decafeeb(s) — Decade(s)

It takes him a while to determine where the beeping is coming from. It’s low but steady. Some alarm or alert he must have made a high priority at some point, because it won’t be silenced when he orders it via the vocal command system.

It just… _keeps beeping._

He runs a hand over his hair, fingers catching in the loose strands that he needs to rebraid while the tuft of white stubbornly makes it’s way back into his eyes.

Behind him, he can hear Ulaz grind his teeth, “There must be some way to turn the infernal thing off.”

He chuckled, “Finding it.”

“Shiro,” Ulaz was normally patient, but even his nerves were being tried. “It has been three vargas.”

“I am very aware.” The only reason he didn’t join Ulaz’s frustration was the knowledge it wouldn’t help matters, “I obviously set it up with the intention of not letting myself ignore it. Patience…”

“--Yields focus,” Ulaz groaned out the rest of the phrase. “My patience breathed its last half a varga ago.”

“A little longer, then we can be on our way to rendezvous with Kolivan.”

“Who will no doubt be delighted to hear your philosophy on patience after having been made to wait half a quintant longer than expected.”

Shiro sighed, opening another panel in the engine room, “It cannot be helped, my friend. Kolivan knows how I am.”

“He doesn’t like it.”

“He doesn’t need to. You do.”

“Moreso when I haven’t been subjected to three vargas of a sound like the Sandmurks of Ommadon in mating season.”

That earned him a full throated laugh as Shiro closed one panel and went to another.

His laugh abruptly cut off when the blinking alert rolled across the screen hidden there.

He pressed the button to silence the alarm, even as his stomach dropped to his feet.

_It wasn’t possible._

“Oh, you found it,” Ulaz’s relief was a bright thing he could not share. “At last.”

He read the output again.

There was no mistaking it.

_It should not have been._

“Shiro? What is it?”

And yet it was.

He let his finger trace the line of text as it repeated its urgent call.

Ulaz’s hand landed on his shoulder, voice concerned, “Shiro, I cannot read Altean. What has happened?”

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the message.

“I have to go.”

“Not to the rendezvous with Kolivan I assume,” Ulaz pulled, forcing him to look away from the panel. “Now?”

“Three vargas ago.” His voice felt strange. Hollow. His heart sped up, whether from hope or fear, or panic, he was uncertain. “I must–”

“Do you need me with you?”

 _Oh._ He would like to not be alone for whatever he found at the other end of this message, but no. Ulaz was a dear friend, but he was a Blade of Marmora, a Galran, first. He could not risk bringing him. He shook his head. “I must go alone.”

“I’ll take the scouter then, and make excuses to Kolivan for you.”

Shiro finally met his eyes, “Thank you, Ulaz.”

“Can you tell me what it is?”

He shook his head.

“Send word as soon as you are able.” He pulled him into a brief embrace. “I will worry for you.”

Ulaz was nearly out the door before Shiro found the words to respond, “May Marmora guide your hand, my friend.”

“And may Parikia chart your stars, my friend. Be safe. Be cautious.”


	2. Arus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm imagining Shiro's Altean Royal Guard clothing kind of resembling the image of this Japanese/Swedish model: [[link](http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/158366482908)]  
> But with brighter colors.

The raised cowl that protected most of his face felt stifling now.

He shifted his armor, trying to feel more at home in his skin as he rushed to the bridge. The Princess wasn't in her quarters. _ **Of course** she wasn't in her quarters. The ship was under attack, why would she **possibly** be where she was meant to be?_

"Once this is over, I'm putting Tanav on latrine duty for a spicolian movement."

Soren laughed at him over the comm that ran between all the members of the royal guard, "Lost the Princess again?"

" _'Lost'_ would indicate I don't know exactly where she is," Shiro huffed out between steps. "Tanav fell asleep at his post, so she slipped out without a guard, _AGAIN_."

"Well, she's not on the training deck, in case you were headed that way."

"No," He groused back. "The Castleship is under fire. She's going to be in the control room with the King."

"I think you know Allura better than you know yourself some days, Shiro."

"Force of occupation, not want, Soren."

"It's going to be fine."

"It's the principle of the matter."

"Uh-huh." Soren's voice was smug even over the comm, "And you're not worried at all."

" ** _Job._** "

He slowed as he reached the control room, bracing his arm against the wall as another blast rattled the ship. Damn Zarkon. They had been allies. **_ALLIES!_** He'd thought better of the Black Paladin.

He straightened his armor and tugged the cowl up, making sure it covered most of his face and hid the knot of hair where his braids met the less organized fall just above the nape of his neck. The Royal Guard was meant to look uniform, and while not faceless, the appearance of being expressionless was encouraged. He was not to look rattled or out of order in the least. _He was order._

He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders before stepping through the door and onto the bridge.

He didn't even have to look to find Allura. She was arguing with King Alfor, fists clenched and voice raised. Coran stood nearby, face a mix of exasperation and worry holding him back from interfering.

Shiro stopped a safe distance from the altercation and exchanged glances with Coran.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Shirogane."

"Good morning, Advisor Smythe."

"I assume you're here for," He quirked an eyebrow in the Princess's direction rather than finish the sentence.

He nodded, "I don't know why I ever expect to find anything else." 

 

* * *

 

_Gods, that had been a lifetime ago._

He brought his ship in for a landing on a planet listed in the star charts as Arus. The planet was largely undeveloped, and at the very edge of Zarkon's Empire. It had taken most of the energy he'd had stored to warp here, but for that signal he'd spare no expense. No risk was too great.

His fingers tapped nervously along the console as he broke the upper atmosphere.

That was definitely an old Castleship from the end of the last Altean dynasty. He'd served on a ship much like it.

_Thousands of years ago._

He shook his head, adjusting the coordinates to land him near what should be an exposed entrance.

Most of it was buried underneath mounds of earth, hiding it's identifying markings, the name of the old warship lost to time. When was the last time he'd seen even a stray part for one of these beauties? There hadn't been many of them commissioned.

Landing seemed to be taking an eternity.

His breath caught as he came around the side of the castleship. The hangar doors he had been angling for stood wide open, and...

It could not be.

_After all this time._

_HOW?!_

He coughed as his body reminded him he needed air.

The Blue Lion was here.

Just sitting in the open, outside an Altean Castleship.

He knew Alfor had ordered the Lions to go into hiding before the end, much to the dismay of some of the Paladins, but this seemed a poor attempt to follow that order by any standard.

But then again, maybe she hadn't been here long. **_Something_** had prompted that signal.

He stepped out of his ship once it settled, and approached the Lion cautiously. She didn't move to look at him. Was the old girl active? _Could she be after so long?_

He was.

He turned at the sound of noise behind him, cybernetic hand twitching with his frayed nerves. He was on edge, feeling hemmed in by ghosts of the people, the entire civilization, he'd lost.

Standing in the large entryway to the Castleship were four figures.

They watched him, and he squared his shoulders before starting to cross the makeshift motte to them. Whoever they were, he would not permit them to scavenge one of the few surviving pieces of his culture.

The old Castleship was likely the tomb of the last folk to fly her now, and they should be allowed to rest.

The glaring sun kept the features of the people he approached vague where they stood in the shadows of the entrance until he was almost upon them.

Once he could see them, he stopped, feeling his eyes grow wide as he took them in.

They stared up at him, their own eyes wide and nervous, their features...

They almost looked Altean. _Painfully close._

Their ears were shaped strangely, rounded and close to the head, and none of them bore the markings of his people. But they were so similar. He'd never seen another species that bore such a striking resemblance.

His chest tightened and he felt the prickling heat of tears wanting to form.

In the shadow of two marvels of his people he thought lost forever where four people that looked so close they could easily be mistaken for Alteans.

How many shocks was the universe determined to lay on his shoulders in a matter of vargas?

The one wearing red stepped to the front of the group, brandishing a dagger as if he were a threat to Shiro, while the largest and the smallest stepped backwards, clearly apprehensive.

"Who are you?" Shiro couldn't help the raw hope in his voice, "What are you?"

It had been 10,000 years since Altea's destruction, if there were survivors, perhaps they had changed, or had become practiced at shifting to hide some of the more outstanding Altean features. What if he wasn't the last? 

_He shouldn't dare to hope for such a thing._

"I think we're the ones who should be asking that," The boy in red all but growled up at him.

He raised an eyebrow, fighting back the urge to smile at the boy. So angry. So young. Unless he missed his guess, frightened too, but still determined to protect his friends. _Admirable that._

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, Keith." The lanky boy in a green coat looked him up and down appraisingly. "We're sorry if we're trespassing or something, but Blue brought us here and opened the doors for us so we figured we were supposed to go in."

"Blue brought you here?" The boy started to gesture to the Lion, but he was already turning to look at her over his shoulder, "So she is awake. Who is her pilot?"

"I am," The boy announced proudly.

A new paladin. _A new **BLUE PALADIN**._ Had she activated the Castleship to send the homing beacon out to any remaining Alteans? It made as much sense as anything else. If there were to be new Paladins, they would need every soldier that could be rallied to support them. If Voltron could be re-formed...

"You know the Lion?"

He looked back to see the smallest of the strangers peering up at him from behind a split visor.

"I knew her a long time ago." He turned his full attention back on the four before him, "I am Shiro, known in these quadrants as The Champion. I was once a member of the Altean Royal Guard."

"Lance," The new Paladin responded brightly, shoving a hand in Shiro's direction. "Fighter Pilot Cadet, Galaxy Garrison."

He smiled warmly, "And the new Blue Paladin."

"Blue Paladin?"

"Of Voltron."

He watched Lance’s gaze shift over to the Lion, his lion, in slowly dawning understanding. Awe colored his voice, " _Oh._ "

"I'm Pidge," The small one hiked a satchel up higher on their back, gesturing to the remaining two. He was almost certain that one was a girl. "That's Hunk, and the one with the knife is Keith."

"It is an honor to meet you," He still couldn't get over how similar they looked to Alteans. If they were to be the new Paladins, he would protect them with everything he had. Voltron might be the universe's best hope in 10,000 years, and the closest thing he would ever have to seeing any of his people again.

"So, 'Altean Royal Guard'?" Pidge stepped closer. "Is that what you are? Altean? Or is that just the name of a dynasty?"

_Inquisitive little bird._

"I am Altean." He smiled, "I cannot say I've met any of your people before."

Her face dropped, and she looked away, "Oh."

There was something to that.

"We're Humans." Hunk supplied cheerfully, like Lance, thrusting a hand towards him, "From Earth. We're all cadets at Galaxy Garrison."

"Except the dropout," Lance seemed to be coming back from the initial overwhelming reaction to being named Paladin. "Keith got kicked out."

"I quit," Keith snapped back on what seemed to be reflex.

Not Altean then. _It had been too much to hope that._ And young. Not ranked in thier military yet.

He stretched his arm out to match Hunk's. It must be some sort of cultural greeting. 

Hunk laughed and retracted his hand to rub the back of his neck, "I guess Alteans don't shake hands, huh?"

Shiro chuckled and let his hand drop, unsure what he'd done wrong, "Not really. But Earth, is it far from here?"

The Humans exchanged looks before nodding.

"We found Blue, and then got into a fight with this big alien warship," Lance gestured widely, as if that might identify the ship. "It started chasing us, and we flew here."

He clenched his fists, eyes narrowing, "You were chased?!"

Pidge and Keith looked at each other before looking back to him, and Pidge spoke up, "The Lion took us through some sort of jump gate around Kerberos. I think we lost them."

" _Her name_ ," Lance enunciated the words with rising indignation, " _is **BLUE**._ "

"Blue is a color, not a name," Keith responded flippantly.

Shiro laughed before the tiff could escalate further, "Blue is as good a name as any other. That's between her and her Paladin."

"She's had a proper name then," Keith looked to him curiously.

"Not my tale to tell." He looked up to scan the skyline as if though wouldn't already be far too late if he did see a pursuer. "Let's go inside. It may not be safe out here. I hope Blue brought you to this ship for a reason."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder, Coran's full name is Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe


	3. Cryo-Pods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Into the belly of the ship.

He ushered the humans inside the halls of the grounded Castleship with only one more backwards glance to the Blue Lion. He'd never thought to see her again, much less a new Paladin. Stepping onto an Altean ship seemingly unchanged from 10,000 years ago was less of a shock.

It seemed Ulaz's Parikia was charting his stars in interesting ways this quintant.

“Hello?” Hunk called out to the darkened hallways, but nothing responded.

“From the size of the Lion, I expected these steps to be bigger.”

"It's built for Alteans, not the Lions," He answered.

"This is an Altean castle?"

"Yes."

Lance whistled, long and low, "Not too shabby."

There was a humming noise and the ship's internal scanners flickered to life.

“Hold for identity scan.”

He watched with a vague feeling of detachment as it performed a deep scan of the Humans, registering them to its records. The scan over his own body was briefer, leaving him standing separate from the aliens. That meant the ship already had him logged. It must be one of the three Castleships he had served on during his years in the Guard. He squinted as he surveyed the hall, trying to catch sight of any identifying placard without luck. It didn't really matter which Castleship it was, but still, he would prefer some warning of which of his old friends might have found their final resting place here. Preferably, before he walked across a corpse. He'd seen enough in the years since that it hardly rattled him to look at the dead now, but finding an Altean body after all this time might just crack his already shaken mettle. He felt a little less himself ever since reading the beacon message calling him here. He felt young and vulnerable in a way he had not in a very long time.

The scanning field dropped, and the Humans all looked to him for guidance.

Keith's eyes looked mildly panicked, his hand tensing around the hilt of the sheathed dagger, "What was that?"

"Just an identity scan." He raised his hands placatingly, "It didn't do anything to you. It's safe."

More lights activated, marking out a path towards the central hub and the depths of the ship.

That was... unexpected.

What protocol had Blue activated?

"Where does that lead?"

Any number of possible places.

"I'm... not sure."

"Is it safe?"

"Safer than outside."

That much he was confident of.

“I guess we’re going that way then,” Pidge rolled her shoulders and started forward, eyes glinting with curiosity.

“Pidge, please don’t rush off without us,” Shiro sighed and started after her, trusting the rest of the Humans to follow. He wasn't sure what parts of the ship were still functional, so following whatever protocol that had been activated was as good a course of action as any for the moment.

The lights led them deeper and deeper, towards the more sensitive areas of the Castleship. Shiro's eyes tracked back and forth constantly, peering too long at each doorway and branching unlit hall. He had expected to run into bodies at some point, the remains of the crew, but had found nothing yet. He couldn't decide if the lack of them was a relief of or not. His muscles tightened as they ventured deeper and deeper, towards the core of the ship, the places meant to be the last stand and most protected chambers.

What was he walking into?

They were all silent as they ventured into the depths, until finally the lights moved from a corridor to a chamber, doors swishing open in implied welcome.

The Humans stepped into the room grateful to have found their destination. He froze on the threshold, his hand gripping the doorframe.

This room was for long term medical cases. Not the infirmary, but for issues more severe, needing long stints in cryo or healing pods. Since the ship had led them here, it was likely expecting them to aid someone who had been in the pods since the ship had landed on Arus. He didn't have training for this. Were they alive? A healing pod, certainly not, it had been far too long for that system to maintain life. But a cryo pod? In theory... But no one had ever... No. Even the best Altean Cryo-Rejuvenator would have failed within 10,000 years. ...Right?

Two pods started to raise from the floor, and he released the doorframe to take a few shaky steps forward into the room.

But what if?

The shielding cover for the first pod deactivated, slowly revealing a person within. An Altean woman. The fog of the dissipating cold obscuring details beyond the basic body shape. 

What if?

“Are these guys,” Hunk sounded unnerved. “Dead?”

If...

His brain was stuck on a loop as he stared towards the pods, barely registering what he saw.

He'd been the only one for so long...

“Father!”

His shoulders squared and his head snapped up relexively at the sound of the familiar voice. _The **impossibly** familiar voice._

This time the prickling of hot tears made his eyes water. His vision swam briefly while he reigned control back into place and Lance caught her before she could hit the ground, speaking quietly to her. 

His charge. The heir to the throne of Altea.

She forced Lance to his knees in an arm lock Soren had taught her a hundred lifetimes ago, "Who are you?! Where is King Alfor?! What are you doing in my castle?!"

She was alive. And still very much the Princess he remembered.

"Princess."

Her head jerked towards him, eyes narrowing as she took in what must to her be his strange appearance. His once dark hair now had that white streak that he couldn't seem to tame. He still wore the braids, but his hair was shorter now, pulled into a tail rather than the heavy knot that he used to wear. The scar across his face nearly cut into the purple markings on his cheeks, and his ears bore ugly notches from past battles. It would be a miracle if she could recognize one of her Royal Guards underneath the changes.

Her voice was uncertain, but she released Lance as she straightened to look more closely at him, "Lieutenant Shirogane?"

"Your Highness," He bowed, straightening too quickly as though she might disappear if he took his eyes off her for longer than a few ticks.

The bow seemed to help her compose herself despite the room full of not-quite-Altean aliens, "You're out of uniform."

 _He was out of uniform._   ** _Quiznak_** , he hadn't had that uniform in, well... For almost as long as it had been since he'd last seen her. He'd nearly forgotten the uniform.

That was apparently his breaking point. Of all the things, a confused Princess Allura pointing out that he was out of uniform. He released a harsh breath that was almost the start of a laugh.

_His uniform!_

He felt it as a mirthless smile cracked his expression and his shoulders shook with the helpless chuckle that was almost as much gasping for air as it was laughter. He felt the tears that finally started down his cheeks.

_He was out of uniform._

"Lieutenant... Shirogane?"

He couldn't stop himself. It was too much. 10,000 years of being alone turned on its head in the space of a few vargas. He couldn't.

"What is going on here?"

She sounded exasperated, but he could only sit down on the tiered platforms leading down to the center of the room, quietly trying to recompose himself.

“A giant Blue Lion brought us here," Lance supplied, obviously as confused as the Princess was. "That’s all we know!”

“How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its Paladin?”

That part Lance knew the answer to, and he responded brightly, "I'm the new Blue Paladin!"

“That’s not possible.” He heard more than saw Allura sweeping towards the control panel, “How long has it been...”

"Listen, we're all a little confused here," Hunk spoke slowly, evenly. "Why don’t you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help.”

“I am Princess Allura of planet Altea. I’ve got to find out where we are, and how long we’ve been asleep." He could hear the glare in her voice, "Since Lieutenant Shirogane seems to be  _indisposed_."

She didn't know how incredible it was that she was even alive to _be irritated_ with him.

"You're on a planet called Arus, if that means anything to you," Pidge supplied from his earlier conversation.

She must have opened the other pod, because while she was still busying herself with the control panel, someone came to sit beside him, a comforting hand coming to rest on his shoulder. "What is wrong, m’ boy?"

He knew that voice. The accent of a land long since gone. He slowly looked up to meet the eyes of, "Advisor Smythe."

"Do I know," He stopped himself mid-sentence, eyes crinkling as he looked closer. He took a deep breath and released it before continuing, a sympathetic edge to the cheer in his tone, "Shirogane, you look like you've been through the center of a pack of rampaging yalmor, and none too recently."

"Nothing so familiar," He tried to smile at the man, but the corner of his mouth twitched spasmodically at the effort and he gave it up as hopeless. "How is this possible?"

"How is what possible?"

"You. The Princess." He released a shaky breath he didn't know he'd been fighting back, "You're alive."

"Of course we are," He chuckled, patting Shiro's shoulder. "You didn't really think The Coranic couldn't outrun a Galran battleship, did you?"

"No, I did," He shook his head slightly, eyes narrowing on Coran. "But after? No one could find you. We thought you and the Princess lost."

"Went into the Cryo-Rejuvenators on Alfor's orders! Had to stay safe until there was a better plan!"

That had been... _Goddess, no._ They'd been asleep the full 10,000 years then. _They had no idea._ They didn't know...

"Coran," He started, feeling his eyes going wide with the horrible realization. They had no idea what had happened. _Any of it._

“It can’t be!”

All heads turned to the Princess.

Coran was already standing, turning away from him, “What is it?”

“We’ve been asleep for ten-thousand years!” Her eyes lit on him, "Shirogane, how?"

"It's a very long story, Princess." He forced himself to his feet, feeling the weight of the centuries falling to his shoulders with the same bone crushing force it had when he had found the beacon alarm hidden in that panel light years away from here. Had that really been the same quintant as now?

"Tell me."

The order in her voice was unmistakable, but he hadn't been a Guard for 10,000 years. Altea hadn't existed for thousands of years, and as far as he'd known, neither had any of the royal family. And the most urgent thing the universe needed now wasn't a Princess whose world he would have to destroy, but the Blue Paladin and whatever could be gathered of the rest of Voltron.

"What I can. When I can." he took a deep breath and forced himself to look away from her and Coran, "Right now, we need to see if we can get this Castle running. The Blue Lion and her Paladin must not fall into Zarkon's hands."

"Zarkon cannot still be alive," He heard her grind the words out through clenched teeth. “Zarkon was a vile creature! And enemy to all free people!”

His remaining hand went to grip the warm metal of his cybernetic replacement, "He still is Princess."

"Shiro," He heard the unspoken apology in Coran's voice. The old advisor was a smart man, he could guess at least part of what that gesture meant.

Pidge spoke up softly, “He’s searching for a weapon called Voltron.”

"He never really stopped," Shiro confirmed. "Come on, if we can't get this place running, I need to get all of you off of Arus."

"Lieu-- Shirogane," Allura's voice was softer now, the command of an Altean Princess absent. "Who else survived?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed down the lump in his throat, "No one."

The silence that followed was heavy, even the Humans who had just met him must understand the weight of that news.

He didn't turn when he heard the sob and Allura and Coran mumbling small comforts to each other. He had mourned the loss of his people long ago. Today's shocks aside, he knew he needed to focus on those who were still alive to be helped. Altea's tragedy could not be permitted to happen ever again.

He waited for them to collect themselves. He would need Coran's expertise if there was any chance of getting this relic flying again. His small ship couldn't protect the Blue Lion on its own, much less house four Humans and three Alteans for any meaningful length of time.

Allura cleared her throat, forcing him to look back to her, “Zarkon’s searching for Voltron, because he knows it’s the only thing that can defeat him, and that is exactly why we must find it before he does!”

"Princess..."

He had intended to follow whatever crumbs the Lion could give him to assemble as much of that power as could be done, but truly resurrecting the full might of Voltron was a childish fantasy.

"There's five of you." Allura narrowed her eyes at him, challenging him to contradict her, "And the Blue Lion has already chosen a Paladin. I can locate the others."

 _Voltron. **All of it.**_ That was more hope than he had dared to have in an age.


	4. Loyalty

Coran patted his shoulder reassuringly, as if he were a new recruit, and not ( _in most ways that mattered_ ) older and more experienced than both Coran and the Princess now. "Go on with Number 4, I'll have this old castle up and running before you can get back."

"Advisor Smythe..."

"No, my boy.  ** _‘Coran.’_**  Enough has happened to dispense with that formality, hasn't it?"

He shook his head, "Coran. We need this castle  ** _moving_** before that Empire Cruiser gets here. That should be the priority rather than rushing off to find the other Lions. If the Princess can locate them at any time, we need reconnaissance, actual plans for retrieval instead of rushing off after them like beacons to draw Zarkon to them."

"The Princess wants the Lions found first."

Shiro's response was without venom, but it was tired. He had already tried to make this point, and Allura wasn't interested in hearing it. "The Princess has no idea the universe she's woken up to."

"Perhaps not." Coran conceded, "But she is still the Princess, and this castle and those Lions are rightfully hers to command. I don't know how long it will take to get the Castle flying, but I can get most of the defenses operational, and the Lions will be the best protection we can muster until the castle can fly once more. If Zarkon gets his hands on her--"

"He would be able to locate the Lions anywhere," He rubbed his temple. "This is all happening faster than I like. Perhaps we should abandon the Castle and run."

"You have another ship we can use with a repairable Teludav and the amplifier systems for an Altean Royal?"

Shiro gave him a flat look.

"Right-o!” Coran’s voice was inappropriately cheerful, “So go help that small one find the Green Lion."

"I don't like this plan."

"Noted."

"Because it is lacking in being a plan."

_Ulaz would have laughed at him, of all people, complaining about that._

"Also noted, soldier."

Shiro snorted, fighting back a laugh at the thought of Ulaz's amusement to  _him_ being the one arguing for more planning, "Orders received, Advisor."

He started down the corridor towards the surface and his small cruiser ship parked outside.

Coran's voice stopped him before he got far, "Shirogane, I'm sorry."

He turned back to stare, "What?"

"It's clear you've been through a great deal, and I doubt you came here expecting to find what you did. You must have your own life and responsibilities we are taking you from. The Princess will realize that eventually too. So, I am sorry, and thank you."

He felt his shoulders droop at the unexpected sympathy, and he looked around the empty hall for a long few moments, speechless. He looked at the wall instead of Coran when he finally found words. "I took an oath to the royal family. I... I don't know what that still means just now. I cannot promise I will serve without question, but I am still an Altean. I am..." He stopped again. He could not promise loyalty. He could not promise service or even complete honesty, not to her. Not right now. He had never imagined a day would come when he could not swear unflinching loyalty to an Altean Royal, but here it was. "A great deal has happened, and I have been changed by it. I am not the young Lieutenant you both knew so long ago. I will do what I can now, and determine what comes next when there is space to breathe."

"When there is space to breathe," Coran's voice was that same tone he had used when he had first approached him today, gentle, wary of breaking something. "I hope you can tell me some of what has happened to you."

Shiro nodded stiffly, still avoiding Coran's gaze and turned to go meet Pidge on the surface.

 

* * *

 

It was adorable how much more talkative Pidge became now that he had her one on one. She leaned forward in the co-pilot chair of his corvette-class ship, watching intently as he piloted, asking questions at every step.

She was quick, picking up terms foreign to her and wrapping her mind around technology that seemed to be ahead of her people's current level. She mentioned concepts matching theories every once in a while, and he found himself wondering what she would do given time to really get familiar with the technology. She was a brilliant little thing, the sort of mind he would recruit for a rebel group like the Blades. To work with him. Given access and a little time, she would be one bolide of an asset.

Of course, Princess Allura had already effectively recruited her for Voltron, but what would they do beyond gathering the Lions? Altea was gone. The Alteans were gone. The Princess had no people to rule nor an army to muster to fight Zarkon with. She had no alliances with nor knowledge of the rebel factions within the Empire. She had no clue what she was getting into, and from what he could gather, neither did the Humans.

He really doubted they’d find all of the Lions, or even if they did, that all of them would be accepted as Paladins. He’d never been a Paladin candidate back when he’d been in the guard, and certainly not for the Black Lion. Still, whatever could be found of Voltron, would be an asset to the fight against Zarkon, and much as he had loved the royal family ten lifetimes ago, Allura had no business running full yalmor into the delicate balance of powers that kept the rebellions running now. She might do more damage than good. People would die.


	5. Green Lion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It lives!  
> I recently got back a commission by the artist Lorna-Ka of this AU's Shiro wearing his long lost Altean Royal Guard uniform. Please check it out [here](http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/174578865428). I'm really delighted with what Lorna-Ka created from my rough sketches.  
> http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/174578865428

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I opted to assign a smidgen of names and world-building around the Green Lion's planet, none of it is canon.

He was surprised by the world the Princess’s coordinates had lead to. It seemed remote and uninhabited. No advanced settlements detectable from orbit. That much wasn’t strange in and of itself. As a hiding place for one of the Lions, an uninhabited, jungle dense world would have been a wise choice. It sounded like a solution Paladin Trigel would have come up with. No. What had him scratching his head was that the planet was named in his star charts, a manual entry too, so not something that was widely known. Worse than that, the name was strangely familiar, although he couldn’t place it, much less recall logging the thing himself.

“Something wrong?”

He glanced over to Pidge, she was looking up with those wide, inquisitive golden eyes. They’d only just met, and the girl really was too intuitive by half. He wished he’d recruited her before Allura had. He sighed, “I don’t recall having visited this planet before, but the name is entered in my star charts.”

“I take it it’s not public knowledge?”

“No.” Shiro ran his fingers over the display, then flicked a wrist, throwing the chart up into the holographic display in the center of the cockpit. “Pilosa. We should arrive in twenty doboshes.”

“Dobosh?”

He smiled, it was hard not to think of the young Altean recruits, eager to join the ranks serving the royal family that he’d met while looking at her. She looked so close to an Altean, it made his heart clench. “Altean unit of time. Let me explain…”

* * *

 

They made planetfall as he finished comparing the Altean measurements to the Human ones. She’d told him a bit about her own world, and he had to admit a small seed of curiosity had been planted. An entire world of people that resembled Alteans? A world untouched by the Empire?

If he’d had it in him to run away from everything, it sounded like a little paradise.

He began to wonder if this entire trek was some sort of dream. The innocent Altean-like Humans, the Princess and Advisor Smythe, the Blue Lion? He dearly hoped he wasn’t going to wake up to find himself a subject in one of Haggar’s experiments again.

He heard the jungle around him rustle as they passed a few crumbling ruins reclaimed by the green. There had been someone living here once. He wondered who they were and what had become of them. The planet was clearly too healthy to be empty because of Zarkon and his insatiable gathering of quintessence. Why had they left? When? Had it been before or after the Lion?

Assuming there really was a Lion here.

A lot could happen in 10,000 years. The Princess might be confident, but she’d just woken from the longest cryo-sleep in history and she was in many ways still just barely out of childhood. This was a bad idea to rush into. They should be focusing on getting farther away from Zarkon. Connecting with one of the Rebel factions. Getting back up. Allies. Making a plan. Not acting alone like this.

“This doesn’t feel uninhabited.”

“Just hang in there, Pidge.” He looked at the readings on the PED again and back up to the river they’d just reached he shore of. A primitive boat waited on the opposite shore, a Lion head carved into the bow. “Looks like our goal is downstream.”

There was a louder rustling of leaves, more purposeful, and he turned to movement in the corner of his vision as Pidge leaped almost a meter straight up, scrabbling to grab him and put him between herself and the intruder. Instinctively, he moved to block whatever had come from getting to her. She was small and brilliant and curious, but showed no sign of being a warrior. He was.

He blinked in shock as the small human clung to his shoulder, both staring at the intrusion. A bipedal alien with heavily slanted eyes, bushy brows, a big nose, a wide lipless mouth, long limbs, and covered in thick white and brown fur. It stared at them serenely.

“It’s just a,” Pidge paused uncertainly. “Whatever that thing is.”

“A Folivorian,” Shiro supplied, suddenly relieved.

He remembered now why the planet’s name was in his star charts. He’d met one of this race, probably 3,000 years ago. A biologist. He’d helped smuggle them out of a Galran prison camp with the Blades and ended up giving that particular escapee a ride home. The Folivora didn’t use spoken language. He hoped he could recall enough of their gesture-based linguistics to get by. A few awkward false starts, one very patient Folivora signing clarifications until he got the hang of things again, a quick explanation to Pidge, and they were in the boat and headed downstream towards an ancient temple Arthram, their Folivorian guide, was assigned to watch over.

He marveled as the local wildlife that had hidden from them popped out of the brush to twitter happily at Arthram as she guided the boat for them. It was peaceful here. Wherever the Folivora lived on Pilosa, they hid it so well as the be undetectable to outsiders. A brilliant move given the current state of the universe. In front of him, Pidge’s face lit up with childlike wonder.

Both their smiles fell though as they passed under a stone arch with the unmistakable silhouette of a Voltron Lion carved into the keystone.

He let out a slow breath as Pidge’s expression grew serious and focused, eyes sharp and golden under furrowed eyebrows. He could feel her nervousness building like a wave.

“I know the Princess said that this was supposed to be my Lion, but what if she’s wrong? I mean, she’s probably not wrong. She’s a Princess, but I’m not a pilot.” She seemed to curl in on herself uncertainly, “Even though I’ve always wanted to be a pilot. I mean, I read all the fighter manual, but I never got to fly the simulator.”

She looked back out across the passing scenery and he couldn’t help but see similarities to the times he had met Trigel, when she was doing late night reading in the Altean royal libraries, her normally cool exterior worn away by excitement and sleep deprivation as she explored some new avenue of research. She’d made a fond sort of mocking of her fellow Paladins, especially Alfor and Blaytz.

“But hey, I can’t be all that worse than Lance. He crashed all the time.” She looked back at him, as if hoping for reassurance, “What if I get in there and it doesn’t respond? What if I get in there and it’s too big and my feet don’t touch the pedals? What if it there aren’t even pedals?!”

“Pidge. You’re rambling.” He smiled indulgently, wondering what Trigel would have made of her apparent successor. “Listen, Princess Allura isn’t perfect, but she has good instincts and she and I both knew the original Green Paladin. I think she is rushing gathering Voltron now, but I do not think she’s wrong about choosing you. You remind me of Paladin Trigel, and I think the Green Lion will see that too. But if we’re wrong, we’re wrong. That’s not your fault. We’ll find another solution. But first, I want to tell you something someone told my friend recently, ‘If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.’”

Advice he should probably be taking to heart himself, rather than just dispensing it. He should check up on whatever had become of that rebel cryptographer they’d communicated with a while back. He’d frustrated Ulaz, but Shiro had liked him immediately, and if he could find a free moment, he’d like to meet the fellow in person. Maybe work with him again.

Wide golden eyes stared at him in disbelief, processing something in his words, and visibly choosing not to pursue it. He saw it in her eyes the moment she chose to let a thread she’d been following drop in lieu of something else. Or waiting until later.

The boat bumped against a shore in a small lagoon, and all three of them stood, looking up at a vine choked stone temple. They disembarked together, walking closer to the temple until carvings of the Green Lion began to light up in response to Pidge’s approach. He hung back slightly, watching to make certain it was her approach, not his, garnering the reaction.

He pointed to the glowing carvings, and nodded to her knowingly, “Go. Be great.”

Her face lit up with a wide smile and she nodded before running the rest of the way up the temple, climbing vines and slipping inside. There was a long silence as he waited outside with Arthram, the temple glowing and difficult to decipher.

There was a gentle growling noise and a golden light grew from within, dimming the green cravings back to lifelessness. A roar split the air, sending wildlife and vines scattering and the Green Lion emerged from the temple in a flash of light, a cheer from Pidge echoing the Lion’s shout.

 The Green Lion had chosen her.

100 centuries since Voltron had last been seen in the universe and now he’d seen two Lions in less than a full Quintant and was apparently a Paladin Candidate himself, by order of the heir to a dynasty gone for as long as the Lions had been.

Parikia could cut him a break now.

* * *

 

He piloted his ship in the wake of the Green Lion, rushing back to the Castleship on Arus.

A notification pinged on the console, soft purple-pink light in a familiar jagged shape. Pidge wasn’t here. It was safe to answer. For now.

“Shiro?” Ulaz’s face blinked at him in surprise on the other side of the monitor.

He offered what he suspected was a strained smile, “You’re the one who called me.”

“I wasn’t really expecting you to be able to answer yet. Is everything alright?”

He closed his eyes, and took the shuddering breath he had not allowed himself since his little bout of hysterics in the healing chamber, “No.”

“What can I do?”

“Nothing.” Shiro looked up to meet his eyes. “There is so much I cannot tell you yet. So much I never expected when I came out here, but it might change everything.”

“Change everything how?”

“For the better,” Shiro chuckled without mirth. “I hope. If I can persuade them to see sense. I’ll tell you more when I can, but there’s one of Zarkon’s battle cruisers headed my way and I need to get out of that trouble first.”

“I let you out of my sight for one quintant and you,” Ulaz’s voice bled worry.

“The Emperor hasn’t killed me yet, I doubt he’s going to manage it now, but it may be a Spicolian Movement or longer before I can contact you again.” He brushed a finger across the display, “Don’t worry so much. We’ll laugh at this over some Nunvil soon enough.”

“Nunvil,” Ulaz didn’t look the least mollified. “I can count on one hand the number of times you’ve dragged **_that_** out of your supplies. What is going on out there?!”

“It’s a delicate situation,” Shiro answered softly. “I’ll explain soon.” _I hope._

Ulaz pinched the bridge of his nose in a too familiar gesture.

“May Parikia chart your stars, Love.”

Ulaz blew out an annoyed sigh, “And Marmora guide your hand, Takashi. Come back to me in one piece this time.”

“I’ll try.”


End file.
